Science needs faith too

By Sean Snider

Human curiosity and the will to understand are attributes common to all people, but unique to every individual. Together, they have shaped the personalities and belief systems resonant within every member of our species, and consequently led to the creation of such ideas as science and religion.

Religion is often criticized because the fundamental ideologies associated with it are difficult, if not impossible to prove on a factual basis. Questions regarding the existence of God, the origin of species and the moral maxims used to guide one's lifestyle cannot be empirically answered or justified.

This inherent subjectivity and the inability to answer elementary issues through human means is what leads to the concept of faith common to all belief systems. Faith is not unique to religion, as it is also required by those who study seemingly objective subjects such as science.

While the study of the sciences has led to a greater understanding of the world around us, and consequently led to socially revolutionary inventions -- computers, airplanes, and the internet -- our knowledge of the physical universe is far from complete. Just as the fundamental questions posed by religions, many fundamentals in science cannot be thoroughly explained.

For example, as immense as the universe appears when we gaze into the sky at night, we can see only a fraction of the matter from which it is composed. Scientists can calculate the total energy required for our universe to exist in the way that we understand it, but they cannot explain where 95 percent of the energy is manifested. Scientists may be completely wrong in their calculations, but through a faith in their understanding of the physical world, they believe themselves to be correct -- or at least correct enough to sleep peacefully at night.

When dealing with the complex concepts of science and religion, it is important to note they are both social constructs plagued by the notion of incompleteness and uncertainty.

If an omniscient being were to teach a class called explaining the universe, both scientists and "believers" would surely get F triple-minuses on the final exam. For this reason, it is absurd to claim that either religion or science has complete superiority over the other.

I strongly encourage you to attempt to empathize with the other side and realize the tremendous influence that both science and religion have had on human progress.

My advice is have faith not only in the merit of your own perception of the world, but also in the perceptions and opinions of others, because chances are no one is even close to being correct on everything, if anything.

Sean Snider is a senior physics major.